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Lynda Bellingham
| death_date = | death_place = London, England | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | occupation = Broadcaster, actress, author | years_active = 1971 – 2014 | children = 2 | death_cause = Colon cancer | spouse = Greg Smith (m. 1975 – 1976; divorced) Nunzio Peluzo (m. 1981 – 1996; divorced) Michael Pattemore (m. 2008 – 2014; her death) | website = }} Lynda Bellingham, OBE (born Meredith Lee Hughes; 31 May 1948 19 October 2014) was a Canadian-born English actress, broadcaster and author, who starred in the long-running series of "Oxo Family" British TV adverts between 1983 and 1999, the drama series All Creatures Great and Small, Second Thoughts and Faith in the Future. She was a panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women between 2007 and 2011. Early life Bellingham was born in Montreal to a single mother, Marjorie Hughes Bond (1917–2012), but was given up for adoption aged four months because she was born out of wedlock in a strict church-going family. Her adoptive parents were Donald and Ruth Bellingham, who lived in Aston Abbotts in Buckinghamshire, England.Alasdair Glennie, "Loose Women's Lynda Bellingham devastated to be excluded from mother's funeral", Daily Mail, 18 March 2012.Anna Pukas, "Lynda Bellingham: I found my real mum at last but still can't respect her for giving me away", Daily Express, 13 March 2010. Bellingham was educated at Aylesbury High School and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Film and television Acting Bellingham made her television début as a nurse in an ITV afternoon soap opera of the 1970s, General Hospital. Her early film credits included roles in Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Sweeney! (1977), Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977), and Riding High (1981) with Eddie Kidd. She also appeared in the comedy short The Waterloo Bridge Handicap (1978) opposite Leonard Rossiter. Other prominent roles included in the James Herriot drama All Creatures Great and Small (in which she was the second actress to play Helen Herriot on television, replacing Carol Drinkwater), the 1980 Andrea Newman drama series Mackenzie, and the situation comedy Second Thoughts and its sequel, Faith in the Future. Bellingham appeared in the 14-part Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 as the Inquisitor. She reprised the Inquisitor character for the Big Finish Productions audio series, Gallifrey, and in the Big Finish Productions audio drama Trial of the Valeyard (which she recorded only a few months before announcing her cancer). She starred as Emily Marlowe in the film The Scarlet Tunic in 1998, and appeared in Gleb Panfilov's The Romanovs: A Crowned Family as Empress Alexandra the following year. From 2000-03, Bellingham played Pauline Farnell, the compassionate accountant in At Home with the Braithwaites opposite Amanda Redman and former All Creatures Great and Small colleague Peter Davison. For several months in 2004 she had a recurring role in The Bill as villainess Irene Radford, and appeared as Marlene in Devil's Gate the same year. Bellingham had a role in the ITV comedy Bonkers playing Mrs Wadlow, a man-eating suburban housewife who seduces her neighbour's teenage son and turns him into her gigolo. Later that year, she filmed guest appearances in episodes of Love Soup and Robin Hood. Television commercials Bellingham played the central character in the long-running "Oxo Family" series of TV commercials, starting in 1983, playing a mother who binds her family together by cooking them meals featuring Oxo products. The advertisements typically featured the family sitting down to a meal at which Oxo gravy would be served. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the family were seen to grow older. When the campaign was retired in 1999, the family moved out of the house. Television presenting On 17 December 2010, Bellingham guest presented the ITV programme Lorraine. In 2012, Bellingham presented her own cookery series called My Tasty Travels. In 2013, Bellingham presented the ITV programme Country House Sunday. Loose Women Bellingham joined loose women on 9 April 2007, appearing alongside Carol McGiffin and Coleen Nolan, Bellingham continued as a regular, until 2011 when she became very busy, Bellingham took time out of the show from August 2011, Bellingham was scheduled to return in June 2012, however this didn't happen, it was the revealed Bellingham was busy filming her new cookery show, and Bellingham was then scheduled to return in late 2012. Bellingham returned to loose women in May 2013, to explain her absence from the show. However with Bellingham's illness which she found out the following month, she didn't return, however in October 2014, loose women dedicated 2 shows to her. In Series 11 Bellingham appeared 36 times, In Series 12 she appeared 87 times, in Series 13 she appeared 50 times, in Series 14 she appeared 60 times, in Series 15 she appeared 68 times. ''Strictly Come Dancing'' In 2009, Bellingham was one of the contestants in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC ratings winner, where she was partnered with Darren Bennett. However, she was voted out by the judges in the fourth week. Other appearances In 1993, Bellingham was the subject of This Is Your Life when she was surprised by Michael Aspel on the set of Second Thoughts. In 2010, Bellingham was the voice-over for British rap band N-Dubz's reality show on Channel 4. In 2011, Bellingham featured in a short film entitled Too Close for Comfort, playing the character of a mother to her real-life son, actor Michael Peluso. Bellingham and Peluso reprised their roles for the follow-up web series of the same name in 2014. Mirroring Bellingham's personal life, her character had developed cancer. Live performances Twice in the 1960s, Bellingham appeared in the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival. In October 2007, Bellingham appeared in a play entitled Vincent River at the Trafalgar Studios in London. Her performance received critical acclaim and it was announced on Loose Women in early 2008 that the play would be moving to Broadway in July of that year, although this never transpired. From September 2008 to July 2009, Bellingham played the role of Chris Harper in the stage version of the hit film Calendar Girls on tour and at the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End. She returned to the show for further tours in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Over the Christmas/New Year period of 2011/12, she played Fairy Godmother in the pantomime Cinderella at the Birmingham Hippodrome. She played the role again at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford over the Christmas/New Year period of 2012/13. Bellingham was due to star in Kay Mellor's play A Passionate Woman at the Sheffield Crucible, followed by a national tour, however, it was announced in July 2013 that the show had to be postponed due to Bellingham's cancer treatment. Writing In 2010, Bellingham launched her book Lost and Found, a story of her life and career and toured the country for private readings. In 2014, Bellingham released her autobiography There's Something I'm Dying to Tell You, released just weeks before her death. Personal life Bellingham was married three times, first in 1975 to film and theatre producer Greg Smith. Her second marriage (1981–96) was to Nunzio Peluso, with whom she had two sons, Michael and Robbie. On 31 May 2008, Bellingham married her boyfriend, Spain-based timeshare salesman, Michael Pattemore (known on Loose Women as "Mr Spain"), at St Stephen Walbrook on her 60th birthday. Bellingham was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for voluntary service to charitable giving. Illness and death On 16 July 2013, it was announced that Bellingham had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. She released a statement saying she was "not going to die." Alistair Foster, "Lynda Bellingham: 'I will deal with this cancer, I’m not going to die'", London Evening Standard, 16 July 2013. In September 2014, Bellingham confirmed that her cancer had metastasized to her lungs and liver and that she had "months to live". She announced that she had made the choice in August 2014"Lynda Bellingham may have months to live", Sky News, 28 September 2014. to stop her chemotherapy in November, so that she could have "one last Christmas" with her family"Ex-Loose Women star Lynda Bellingham: My cancer is terminal and I only have months to live", Daily Record, 28 September 2014.Hannah Stephenson, "Ex-Loose Women star Lynda Bellingham: I want one last Christmas with my family before saying goodbye and going to sleep", Daily Record, 29 September 2014. and die in January 2015. However, Bellingham died in a London hospital on 19 October 2014 with her husband Michael and friend Nickolas Grace by her side. A few weeks before her death, Bellingham's official website was taken down, with the message: "We're very sorry, at the request of Lynda and Michael we have temporarily taken the website offline."Lynda Bellingham official website; accessed 23 September 2015. On 3 November 2014, her funeral took place at St Bartholomew's Church in Crewkerne, attended by family and friends. Afterwards, Bellingham was buried in Crewkerne Townsend Cemetery.Lynda Bellingham funeral, dailymail.co.uk; accessed 23 September 2015. Further reading * Lynda Bellingham, Lost and Found: My Story (Ebury Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0091936419 * Lynda Bellingham, Tell Me Tomorrow (Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2014) ISBN 978-1471102813 * Lynda Bellingham, There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You (Coronet, 2014) ISBN 978-1473608566 References External links * Category:1948 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Actresses from Montreal Category:Alumni of the Central School of Speech and Drama Category:Canadian emigrants to England Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer Category:English stage actresses Category:English television actresses Category:English film actresses Category:English television presenters Category:English women writers Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People educated at Aylesbury High School Category:People from Aylesbury Vale Category:Writers from Montreal Category:English people of French-Canadian descent Category:Canadian people of French descent